Oh, Woe is Me..and the Nurseries!

I can sympathise spritz but use it as an 'opportunity'.
Most of the stuff I've lost is only available from one or two specialist nurseries so I may have to manage without them for this year and order them next spring. But I've also lost two clematis, salvia uliginosa and a caryoperis. But I've managed to keep the banksia, feijoa and vitex!

Yes, one of my Caryopteris died, as well.

I'm surprised to hear that your Clematis succumbed! Were they on the tender side?

~lost two strelitzia.papyrus echiums,about 30 fuchsias and most of my pool plants are looking very stick like with no new growth.
Is it wise to assume next winter could be the same and prepare to take more under cover or is it only once every ten years that it will be so cold.
One of my son's acquaintances with a degree from Imperial College and very knowledgeable reckons it will get gradually get colder as in ice age and is planning to sell up and move somewhere warmer~
who knows!I will be buying more bubble wrap etc just in case!

Sorry you lost your coprosma Spritz.Thought ours would have succumbed but they survived those hard frosts and are putting on lots of new growth now. Its living in Yorkshire we think that toughens them up ! Great excuse to buy more plants !

I lost my Echiums, they were about to go into there 3rd year and flower but even though they had been wrapped since Oct they still got it. Potentially my big Cordyline in the back garden that I have never wrapper as the garden is quite sheltered and I have had for 6 yrs, first three in Oxford looks like he could be on the way out.

But like andrew says, nothing is for ever and it gives great opportunity to try other things.

News today says we could be in for a really warm summer.

Oooh! Yes please! :-)

Sorry to hear of your losses Spritz. I have three Coprosmias and although suffered frost damage to its leaves, all three have survived. I also had two Scabiosa chilli blacks and one didn't survive but the other is growing well.

NOT FAIR! Why did mine have to die? You were very lucky, Toto! Which ones have you got? (Coprosmas, I mean)

I lost clematis cirrhosa var balearica which is a Mediterranean one and clematis recta 'Purpurea' which is an herbaceous one. Both were several years old

Oh, yes, that doesn't surprise me. I did know that the cirrhosas can be a little vulnerable. There's a newish one called 'Jingle Bells' which is almost tender! I bet the label doesn't say so, though!

I was lucky Spritz but my garden is very small and quite sheltered so this probably helped. Two of my coprosmia are in pots close to the house so they probably get some warmth from that. As for the names, I will need to check as I've a terrible memory, but will look tomorrow. I do know that one is a variagated red, one is green (this was the one that suffered) and one is a dark red to bronze.

I think myself lucky all I lost was two standard Fuschia's they were just wood and when I tugged a little at them they came out with no root ball..... just dead, it was like pulling teeth, I love Fuschia so will have to replace them and protect them next winter.

Yes, Toto, please do check - they may just be hardier ones than the list I USED to have!

Bob, I do think you were lucky! :-)

Spritz have you tried Hayloft Plants they are advertising Chile Spice, I bought all mine from this nurseries about three years ago.

Thanks, Dd - I'll check with them.

Sorry to hear of your losses Spritzhenry. I hope Rosy-Jane will put on a good show.

I can only apologise as in my normal efficient manner I have lost the labels, but I have posted a short blog to show you the leaf colours. I hope that it is of some help, although I doubt it.

Hywel, I saw Rosy-Jane in a T&M catalogue and took a risk in ordering them. This time, the plants were very good and they've come on well. I'm looking forward to seeing the flowers which are supposed to be red and white!

hi
don't know if this is any good but i have just been on ebay and someone is selling scabiosa chile but spelt chilli..item number 370161133224, not sure if you use ebay but if you put that number in the search box it should direct you

Thanks - I've just asked the seller what size pot it is!!! They also have one of the others, but not 'Chilli Black'
I think it's me that has spelt it wrong... :-(

Fingers crossed!

it says 9cm pots so not very big by the sound of it but you are obviously a great gardener so shouldn't be a problem for you although i am not sure about the price, maybe you could collect if not too far away.

I think it makes it a bit expensive for that size, they want £2 p&p for each plant, as well! I shall just have to be patient until next year I think - and hope that Gaura 'Rosy-Jane' makes up for it!

Oh, dear Barbara - sounds like your garden really suffered this winter :-( I lost a load of fuchsias that were overwintering in the g-house and I'm still looking for signs of growth on several of my dahlias that have been in the ground without being lifted for over 15 years.... One has come up - a white one and not my favourite - but so far none of the others :-( Of the two I have in big containers, one has come up but not the other. When the weather is better I think I'll have an exploratory dig to see if they are shooting or not - if not the space will need to be filled somehow, but of course too late to plant more dahlias now :-( I bet the nurseries have lost a lot of stock - must be a really bad blow for them considering the economic climate as well.......

Hi Sid! Yes, it was pretty bad. I have managed to replace some plants, though, and I was VERY surprised yesterday to see a small shoot where a Dahlia was, last year... I now know where to get the Scabiosa, too, via a friend who asked at the Malvern Show for me!

I am going to have a prod around like you for another Dahlia that has not appeared...if it's gone soggy, I shall get a potted one to replace it. My two new 'Bishop of Llandaff' are hopeless! One has a tiny shoot, the other - nothing at all. :-(

I went to one of my favourite GCs earlier in the year and you are right - one end of the plant area was cordonned off, and lots and lots of very dead plants were behind it. Very sad sight.

Glad you've tracked down the Scabiosa - that's one thing I've never grown and your enthusiasm for them is making me wonder what I've been missing?!

I'd give the Bishop a bit more time - I expect he'll send up some more shoots. Unless of course he looks around at this horrid rainy/windy weather and thinks better of it and goes back down underneath again lol

Yesterday I was out moping over my Dahlias and noticed a tiny shoot coming up - one of the pink cactus ones - my favourites - Yay!

That's good news, Sid! My two Bishops are in pots - I bought three new Dahlias this year: Donald Ward, and the Bishops. Donald is now safely planted out in the border, over a foot high, so how come the Bishops are so coy?

That Dahlia left in the soil has rotted. :-(

Wow - Donald is doing really well to be over a foot high already! I have two deep purple ones in big containers in the driveway - they were spectacular last year. One is up and is about 6" high....the other alas has not appeared :-( But at least I've still got one. I have two new ones (pictures on my Dahlia blog) and they've both appeared and are about 3" tall so far. So I don't think the Bishops are so far behind really - plus their foliage and general growth is a bit more delicate and refined than the bigger boys, not as vigorous maybe, tho I've never grown them myself.

I must be mad to try again after last year's hiccup - do you remember that they appeared but the foliage was green and they only grew to about 14" max....then when they flowered they were wishy-washy mauve? SOMEONE packed the wrong tubers!!! What a joke that was - in my hot border, as well! :-(

Let's hope that Donald saves the day! He is supposed to be a deep orange to 'go' with my Heleniums!

He he...yes I remember that little debacle lol I bought some Allium christophii a couple of years ago and they came up looking just like the usual A. hollandicum but with pale lilac flowers :-S This year I tried again and - yes - they are thank goodness looking like A christophii this year! So pleased - I love this plant and have had to wait such a long time to have some!

Donald sounds lovely - some people don't like orange flowers. I'm not one of them lol

I Iike them in my 'hot' border...oh, and with my purple and white as well! So I must like orange flowers, Sid! lol ;-)

I have Allium christophii this year - they seem shorter than I expected. How tall are yours?

Not very.......but I planted mine a bit on the late side - actually I started them off in pots as I didn't have time to clear the space in the garden. They are only about 20 cm so far, but the buds are not open on most - just one is JUST starting to open - one or two little silvery stars poking through the fat bud :-) They don't get as tall as the usual ones, I recon about 30cm/1ft is average.

I like a nice clear orange combined with clear sky blue - like Echolzsias and Nigella - smaller flowers rather than bigger ones I suppose - and darker duskier oranges with rick purple......

I wish I'd known that they don't grow very tall before I planted them. They are in pots, sunk in the soil. That's to try to get over the problem I had with NO alliums appearing at all - I think they rotted. Anyway, I bought them in pots, so I just left them in! They are not in the right position in the bed to be seen, though. :-(

Hee hee. I have you sussed. You are a plantaholic! Isnt it wonderful?

Excuse me, madam, I happen to be the FOUNDER member of the GOY Plantaholics Society! Kindly be more respectful of my status!!! (LOL)